A month long barrel of laughs in a fantastic city (Edinburgh Festival Fringe)

Name: sandrabarber

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Product:	Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Date:	26/02/02 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious, Beautiful city, Something for everyone

Disadvantages: Very very crowded, Expensive, Need to book accommodation early

Last August was my first ever visit to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and I had the time of my life. I laughed so much, walked so much, ate so much and drunk so much that I left it in serious physical pain. But god, was it worth it!

The Fringe runs throughout August every year, and comprises hundreds upon hundreds of plays, music events and comedy gigs in tons of venues throughout the city every day and night. I went for the comedy, having seen it on telly for years and always promised myself a trip.

First, booking up. As you can imagine, Edinburgh is ABSOLUTELY CHOCCA at this time, so you must book early. I booked my accommodation in February, and still I had to try about 15 different places before I found one with a vacancy.

Next, you must book your event tickets early or you'll have little chance of getting in. Tickets go on sale in June, and you find out what's on by registering with the site www.edfringe.com who give you a number to call for a programme with a booking form in the back. You can book at various venues in the town itself while the festival's running, but you will queue for literally hours only to find that your chosen events have sold out.

There is so much to choose from, with loads of newcomers you can take pot luck on to all the big names on the comedy circuit. Here's a quick run-down of my faves from who I saw:

Daniel Kitson - If you've not heard of him yet, you will soon. He was nominated for the Perrier Award (but sadly didn't win) and sold out every night. I first saw him at the Comedy Store a few months before the fringe and if he doesn't get his own TV series before long then there is no god.

Johnny Vegas - An absolute genius. Comedy to make you laugh and cry, it is so poignant and so hysterical and filthy at the same time. (One downside to this - he drank so many aftershocks he literally threw up on stage the night I saw him - I also got picked from the
audience and coerced into kissing his nipple)

Richard Herring - I've never been a fan, but this show was superb. Called 'Christ on a Bike', it sought to disprove that Jesus was the son of God and was wonderfully blasphemous as well as very funny and very clever.

Trevor and Simon's Circus of Evil - the former Going Live twosome are as daft as ever and had us conjuring up evil spirits by chanting passages from the Next Directory. Idiotic and truly marvellous. Again I was picked out of the audience and got to shake their hands!

Perrier Pick of the Fringe: All 5 award nominees in one show. What more could you ask?

These were only some of the shows I saw, and I wasn't disappointed with any of them. Even if I had seen a bad comedian it wouldn't have mattered because the atmosphere at the festival is magic. Everyone is friendly, everyone is happy, everyone is having a good time and laughing themselves to insanity.

Shows are on almost continuously and pubs are open until 3 am, 5 am and some are peddling their alcoholic concoctions 24/7. There just aren't enough minutes in the day to take advantage of everything on offer. At the venues beer is reasonably priced and there's always a good choice of cheap grub to keep it down with.

Another great plus is that during the day they close off part of the Royal Mile and throw it open to street entertainers and comedians giving you a taste of their wares trying to tempt you to their shows.

Any criticisms?

Well, the organisation's a bit wonky, with shows starting at different times than advertised and venues at different parts of the city having the same bloody names which means you keep turning up at the wrong place for the first couple of days and then have to fight for a cab to get you to the right place on time. However, you soon get the hang of it and because there's so much going on you can understand arrangeme
nts going tits up once in a while.

Also, even though you've got a ticket, you still have to form an orderly queue to get into the venue a good half hour in advance if you want to get a good seat. All tickets are unreserved seating.

I did walk whenever possible to try and save a bit of cash, but Edinburgh is so BIG and so HILLY that my mate and I ended up exhausted and in actual physical pain and thought f*** it, we're on holiday, we need to save our energy for laughing.

How much?

Well, tickets for each show – all last 50 mins to an hour - are about a tenner, so that soon mounts up if like me you're taking in 3 or 4 a day. Then there's the taxi fares to get you from one venue to the next. Including accommodation (a very cheap but clean 20 quid a night B&B) and getting there and back, I reckon I spent around £500 on my 3 nights 4 days there.

Expensive some might say, but I reply that this was an absolute holiday of a lifetime. I have never, ever had such a good time or so many laughs, and it all takes place in one of the world's most beautiful cities.

Would I go again?

I've already sorted out my accommodation for Fringe 2002, and would suggest anyone with a sense of humour and adventure does the same.

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